Electronic reminder having audible signal

ABSTRACT

An electronic warning device particularly, but not solely, intended for reminding women that they should take their contraceptive pill at night when going to bed. The device comprises a member capable of emitting an intermittent warning signal such as a flashing light or audible tone. The member is energized by an oscillator circuit and this oscillator is controlled by means comprising a first photosensitive element which is used for inhibiting or blocking the oscillator circuit, as a result of the charge on a capacitor, when the first photosensitive element is subjected to luminous radiation and for permitting the circuit to oscillate during the discharge time of said capacitor when the first photosensitive element is subjected to darkness. A second photosensitive element acts to allow the recharging of the capacitor only when subjected to said luminous radiation.

United States Patent Stampfli Apr. 9, 1974 1 ELECTRONIC REMINDER HAVING AUDIBLE SIGNAL 57 ABSTRACT [76] Inventor: Jackie Stampfli, 20 Rue du An electronic warning device particularly, but not Commandant ou otte, s, solely, intended for reminding women that they should France take their contraceptive pill at night when going to [22] Filed, June 5 1972 bed. The device comprises a member capable of emitting an intermittent warning signal such as a flashing [21] Appl. No.: 259,965 light or audible tone. The member is energized by an oscillator circuit and this oscillator is controlled by I 52] US CL 340/384 E 340/384 R 340/332 R means comprising a first photosensitive element which 51 Int. Cl. G08b 3/10, G08b 5/36 is used inhibiting blOcking 3 [58] Field of Search U 340/384 E 384 R 332 R as a result of the charge on a capacitor, when the first photosensitive element is subjected to luminous radia- [56] References Cited tilon dhfor permittinfg thei circuit to osclzlillatehdur ing t e lSC arge time 0 sm capacitor w en t e irst UNITED STATES PATENTS photosensitive element is subjected to darkness. A

Kermode E econd photosensitive element acts to allow the re.

Primary ExaminerHarold l. Pitts Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert E. Burns; Emmanuel J. Lobato charging of the capacitor only when subjected to said luminous radiation.

6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures ELECTRONIC REMINDER HAVING AUDIBLE SIGNAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic warning device and more particularly to a device intended for providing a reminder that an action should be carried out at a predetermined time.

The present invention finds a favourable application in medical treatment procedures which extend over a long period of time and which prescribe the ingestion of therapeutic substances of a determined dosage and at regular intervals of time, for example every evening at bed time. One particular application of the invention is to enable women to be reminded that they should take their contraceptive pill at night when going to bed.

The device according to the invention provides the emission of a warning signal, which may be a flashing luminous signal or an acoustic signal, when, after being subjected to luminous radiation, such as daylight or artificial light, the device is subjected to darkness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides an electronic warning device comprising a member capable of emitting an intermittent warning signal for making an impression on one of the senses. An oscillator circuit controls the excitation of this member and control means for the oscillator circuit are provided. The control means has a first photosensitive element and a capacitor for blocking the oscillator circuit when the capacitor is charged and the first photosensitive element is subjected to luminous radiation, and for permitting the oscillator circuit to oscillate and energize the member during the discharge period of the capacitor and when said first photosensitive element is not subjected to radiation. A second photosensitive element acts in opposition to the recharging of the capacitor when the second photosensitive element is not subjected to radiation and permits this recharging, on the other hand, when it is illuminated by the flux.

The detailed description below, both of the structure and of the functioning method of the apparatus according to the invention, considered in conjunction with the attached drawing, will permit a better understanding of how the invention may be realised.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a schematic of an electrical circuit of the device; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective of an embodiment of the device.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the electrical circuit of the device is constituted by an assembly of components connected in an appropriate manner between the terminals and of a battery (not shown). The device has an oscillator circuit in the form of a conventional multi-vibrator, for example comprising two npn transistors l and 2, of any suitable type. In the collector circuit of the transistor 1, there is provided a member designed for emitting a warning signal. In this example the member is an incandescent lamp 3. In the collector circuit of the transistor 2, there is connected a load resistor 4. In addition, the base electrodes of the transistors 1 and 2 are connected to the positive pole of the battery through resistors 5 and 6 respectively. The collector of transistor 1 is connected to the base of the other transistor 2 through a polarised electrolytic capacitor 7. The collector of this other transistor 2 is connected to the base of the first-mentioned transistor 1 through a polarised electrolytic capacitor 8. The emitters of the two transistors l and 2 are connected together and lead to the negative terminal of the battery through the collector-emitter path of an npn transistor 9. The potential of the emitter of this latter transistor 9 is fixed by a diode 10. The base of the transistor 9 is connected to the negative terminal of the battery through a resistor 11 and to the emitter of an npn transistor 12 through a resistor 13. In the collector circuit of the transistor 12 there is provided a photosensitive element 14, which may be a cadmium sulphide photo-resistive cell constituting a variable resistor. The base of the transistor 12 is supplied by a series network composed of a resistor 15 connected to the positive terminal of the battery and a photosensitive element 16 connected to the negative terminal of the battery. The photosensitive element 16 may also be a cadmium sulphide photo-resistive cell constituting a variable resistor. Finally, a polarised electrolytic capacitor 17 is connected'between the collector of the transistor 12 and the terminal of the battery.

The operation of the device is as follows:'

The device is kept permanently energised; in the presence of a luminous flux, even a relatively weak flux and the capacitor 17 is charged to the battery voltage through the variable resistor 14 which possesses, because of the luminous flux, a low electrical resistance. The network 1'5-16 provides a near zero voltage at the base of the transistor 12, since the electrical resistance of the element or variable resistor l6 is very-low compared to resistor 15. The transistor 12 is therefore cutoff and non-conductive. When the device is in darkness, the resistance of the element or variable resistor 16 increases to a sufficient extent to enable the transistor 12 to conduct-and the capacitor 17 discharges into the diode-base-emitter circuit 13-11 of the transistor 9. The capacitor 17 cannot recharge because the electrical resistance of the variable resistor 14 has now become too large. The transistor 9 now conducts and the multi-vibrator constituted by the transistors l and2 oscillates, causing intermittent illumination of the lamp 3. The frequency and the duration of the luminous flashes is determined by the time constant of the resistancecapacitance circuits 5-8 and 67. When the capacitor 17 has discharged (after approximately 10 seconds),

the transistor 9 is again cut-off, stopping the oscillation of the multi-vibrator. The residual current through the element or variable resistor 14 does not recharge the capacitor 17, which is shunted by the components 13-11, so that the transistor 12 remains cut-off. When the device is again subjected to a luminous flux, recharging of the capacitor 17 takes place over a period which varies according to the intensity of the flux.

It can be imagined that a device of this type, when placed in a room, will warn the person who has just come to bed and has turned off the light and will remind him or her that he or she should for example take some medicine or carry out some action.

Fig. 2 shows in a perspective view form of embodiment of the device according to the invention. The use of integrated circuits for the construction of the device will enable an apparatus of very small dimensions to be achieved, which can easily be placed on a bedside table. A pedestal 18, for example of cubic shape, serves as the base of the apparatus and acts as a housing for the supply batteries. There may be mounted on it a globe 19 (or a hemisphere, or a mushroom type fitting) of moulded plastic, in which the electronic circuit and the lamp are embedded or enclosed. The base of the pedestal may contain a drawer 20, to contain the medicine to be taken.

As a variant, the faces of the cube forming the pedestal may comprise inscriptions or figures applied in phosphorescent paint.

It will be noted that the foregoing description refers to a device which makes use of a luminous signal; the lamp may be replaced by a vibrator or bell enabling an acoustic signal to be produced, the practical construction of the apparatus being then modified as a consequence.

The replacing of the electronic circuit embedded or enclosed in the plastics globe 19 by any phosphorescent device (glued in or enclosed) emitting a light in darkness, where this light is continuous instead of being discontinuous and has a predetermined duration is also feasible.

We claim:

1. An electronic warning device comprising, signal means for emitting an intermittent warning signal for making an impression on one of the senses of a human being, an oscillator circuit controlling the excitation of said signal means and control means for the oscillator circuit, said control means comprising a first photosensitive element and a capacitor for blocking the oscillator circuit when the capacitor is charged and the first photosensitive element is subjected to luminous radiation and for permitting the oscillator circuit to oscillate and energize said signal means during the discharge period of said capacitor and when said first photosensitive element is not subjected to said radiation, and a second photosensitive element connected to oppose recharging of said capacitor when not subjected to radiation and for permitting this recharging when it is illuminated by said luminous radiation 2. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, and further comprising an electrical supply battery, a voltage dividing bridge comprising a resistor and the first photosensitive element connected in series between the battery terminals, an interruptor transistor in said control means having an emitter-collector circuit connected between the terminals of the battery and a base connected to a junction point between the resistor and the first photosensitive element, means connecting said capacitor to the collector and the emitter of the interruptor transistor, means connecting the second pho-' tosensitive element in series with the last-mentioned capacitor to the battery terminals, means connecting the interruptor transistor to the oscillator circuitv in order to instruct or not to instruct the oscillator to function depending upon its state.

3. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, in which said signal means is an incandescent lamp.

4. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, in which said signal means is an acoustic vibrator.

5. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, in which said oscillator circuit is a multi-vibrator.

6. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, wherein the device has a housing formed of two parts, one part in the form of a parallelepipedic containing the supply batteries and the other part containing the electronic circuit and the signal means. 

1. An electronic warning device comprising, signal means for emitting an intermittent warning signal for making an impression on one of the senses of a human being, an oscillator circuit controlling the excitation of said signal means and control means for the oscillator circuit, said control means comprising a first photosensitive element and a capacitor for blocking the oscillator circuit when the capacitor is charged and the first photosensitive element is subjected to luminous radiation and for permitting the oscillator circuit to oscillate and energize said signal means during the discharge period of said capacitor and when said first photosensitive element is not subjected to said radiation, and a second photosensitive element connected to oppose recharging of said capacitor when not subjected to radiation and for permitting this recharging when it is illuminated by said luminous radiation.
 2. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, and further comprising an electrical supply battery, a voltage dividing bridge comprising a resistor and the first photosensitive element connected in series between the battery terminals, an interruptor transistor in said control means having an emitter-collector circuit connected between the terminals of the battery and a base connected to a junction point between the resistor and the first photosensitive element, means connecting said capacitor to the collector and the emitter of the interruptor transistor, means connecting the second photosensitive element in series with the last-mentioned capacitor to the battery terminals, means connecting the interruptor transistor to the oscillator circuit in order to instruct or not to instruct the oscillator to function depending upon its state.
 3. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, in which said signal means is an incandescent lamp.
 4. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, in which said signal means is an acoustic vibrator.
 5. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, in which said oscillator circuit is a multi-vibrator.
 6. An electronic warning device according to claim 1, wherein the device has a housing formed of two parts, one part in the form of a parallelepipedic containing the supply batteries and the other part containing the electronic circuit and the signal means. 